An Updated Gmail App Enters the Android Market

Android defragmentation continues. Since there are devices out there, even those newly released (such as the Dell Streak) running older versions of Android, Google has started to decouple key pieces of Android from the main OS. One of those was just released today: Gmail.

An updated version of Gmail has been released into the Android Market That's the good news. The bad news is that it is only for those devices running Android 2.2 (Froyo). If you don't have 2.2 yet, you'll have to wait (and hope that your device gets 2.2, not all will).

In terms of the new features, the updated version of Gmail has a floating message actions toolbar like the browser-based mobile Gmail webapp. That means you don't have scroll all the way down to the bottom of the thread to reply, etc. etc.

Meanwhile, the new Gmail also has a "show quoted text" button to make viewing long threads easier.

Finally, this updated version of Gmail has limited support for Priority Inbox, which was recently released in the regular version of Gmail. Those who've enabled Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail will see an “Important” label that shows all messages flagged as important. You can also add a shortcut to “Important” to your home screen.

This is all great, but the continued defragmentation of Android is still greater. Of course, those without a Nexus One, Evo 4G, Incredible, Droid 2 or Droid running Android 2.2, you'll be forced to wait.

Oh, and speaking of the Incredible and Evo 4G, Google said there's a known issue on HTC devices running Froyo. The aforementioned message actions toolbar isn't sticking to the top of the screen. They are working on a fix.